TY  - JOUR
PB  - SciPost Foundation
DO  - 10.21468/SciPostPhys.19.4.096
TI  - The double EFT expansion in quantum gravity
PY  - 2025/10/14
UR  - https://www.scipost.org/SciPostPhys.19.4.096
JF  - SciPost Physics
JA  - SciPost Phys.
VL  - 19
IS  - 4
SP  - 096
A1  - Calderón-Infante, José
AU  - Castellano, Alberto
AU  - Herraez, Alvaro
AB  - In this work, we aim to characterize the structure of higher-derivative corrections within low-energy Effective Field Theories (EFTs) arising from a UV-complete theory of quantum gravity. To this end, we use string theory as a laboratory and argue that such EFTs should exhibit a double EFT expansion involving higher-curvature operators. The field-theoretic expansion is governed by the mass of the lightest (tower of) new degrees of freedom, as expected from standard field theory considerations. Conversely, the quantum-gravitational expansion is suppressed relative to the Einstein-Hilbert term by the quantum gravity cutoff, $\Lambda_{\text{QG}}$, above which no local gravitational EFT description remains valid. This structure becomes manifest in the so-called asymptotic regime, where a hierarchy between the Planck scale and $\Lambda_{\text{QG}}$ emerges, the latter identified herein as the species scale. Most notably, we demonstrate the features of the double EFT expansion through an amplitudes-based approach in (toroidal compactifications of) ten-dimensional Type IIA string theory, and via a detailed analysis of the supersymmetric black hole entropy in 4d $\mathcal{N}=2$ supergravities derived from Type II Calabi–Yau compactifications. We provide further evidence for our proposal across various string theory setups, including Calabi–Yau compactifications of M/F-theory and Type II string theory. Finally, we explore the implications of this framework for the Wilson coefficients of the aforementioned higher-curvature operators, revealing potentially significant constraints in the asymptotic regime and highlighting a remarkable interplay with recent results from the S-matrix bootstrap program.
ER  -

@Article{10.21468/SciPostPhys.19.4.096,
	title={{The double EFT expansion in quantum gravity}},
	author={José Calderón-Infante and Alberto Castellano and Alvaro Herráez},
	journal={SciPost Phys.},
	volume={19},
	pages={096},
	year={2025},
	publisher={SciPost},
	doi={10.21468/SciPostPhys.19.4.096},
	url={https://scipost.org/10.21468/SciPostPhys.19.4.096},
}